Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-07-20
Instinct and Habit.

Il
III. Henry James, in an article in Scrib-
ner's 4M,agd2ine on INSTINCT shows
thatahe has given close study to this
facility insits various forms as it appears
in man and beast. After defining the
word for the purposes of his discussion
and showing that the faculty is present
in all living beings, he arrives at con-
clusion different from the older writer's
on the subject, who smothered4 every
thing in a vague wonder at the clair
voyant and prophetic power of the ami
mails, SO superior to anything in man,
and at the benefcence of God in en-
downing them with such gift. He con-
cludes that every instinct is an impulse,
and that man has greater variety of
impulses than any lower animal, and
any one of these impulses is as "blind"
as the lowest instinct can be; but owing
to mans memory, power of reflection
and power of inference they come
each one to be felt by him in connec-
ton with foresight of their results.
1t is obvious that every instinct in an
animal with memory must be accom-
panied with foresight as to it's end just
so far as that end may have fallen un-
der the animals cognizance. Thus it
is plain that no matter how we'll en-
dowed an animal may originally be in
the matter of instincts his actions will
be much modified if, in addition to inn
pulses, he have memories, associations
and differences on any considerable
scale.
| When he was four months old he
would make d very elaborate pretence
Of burying things such as gloves &c.,
which he had played with until he was
tired. He scratched the carpet with
! bis forefeet, dropped the object from
his mouth upon the spot, and then
! scratched all about it with both fore
and hind feet, if remember rightly,
and finally went away and let it lie.
! Of course the act was entirely useless.
saw him perform it at that age some
tour or five times, and never again in
! bis life. The conditions were not pres
emit to tx a habit which could last
when the prompting instinct died
away. But suppose meat instead of a
| glove, earth instead of carpet, hunger
/ pangs instead of fresh supper few
hours later, and it is easy to sec how
this dog might have got into the habit
Of burying superfuous food, which
might have lasted all his life.
! This peculiarly is still more notice.
I able in human beings. If a boy grows
up alone at the age of games and
sports, and learns neither to play ball,
nor row, nor sail, nor ride, nor skate,
nor fish, nor shoot. probably he will
! be sedentary to the end of his days,
and though the best of opportunities
! be afforded him for learning these
! things later, it is hundred to one but
; be will pass them by and shrink back
from the effort taking those necessary
steps the prospect of which, at an
j earlier age, would have filled him
with eager delight. The sexual past
, sion expires after a protracted reign;
but it is well known that its peculiar
manifestations in a given individual de-
pend almost entirely on the habits he
may form during the early period of
its activity.
young animals" says the writer,
''immediately after birth, have no in
stinct of fear, but show their dependence
by allowing themselves to be freely
handled Later, however, they grow
wild, and, if left to themselves, will
not let man approach them. l am told
by farmers in the Adirondack wilder
ness that it is very serious matter if a
cow wanders off and calves in the
woods and is not found for week or
more. The calf, by that time, is as
wild and almost as feet as deer, and
hard to capture without violence. But
calves rarely show any particular
wildness to the men who have been
in contact with them during the first
days of their life, when the instinct to
attach themselves is uppermost, nor do
| they dread strangers as they would if
brought up wild"
This leads to the law of transform
ness, which is this: That many instincts
ripen at certain age, and then fade
away. A consequence of this law is
that if, during the time of such an in
stinct's vivacity, objects adequate
to arouse it are met with,
habit of acting on them is formed.
which remains when the original
instinct has passed away; but that
If no such objects are met with
then no habit will be formed; and,
later on in life, when the animal meets
the objects he will altogether fail to
react, as at the earlier epoch he would
instinctively have done. No doubt
such law is restricted. Some instincts
| are far less transient than others
those connected with feeding and
MISREPRESENTATION" may hardly be
transient at all, and some, after fading
T..